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April 1994

 

This daily correspondence between schools she attended and us gives you a glimpse of our daily life. Most parents of typical children do not communicate on daily basis with the teachers. This gives a reader an insight to how important daily communication is for a child with autism.

Kat has attended school since she was 3 years old. These are school notes that were result of correspondence with her parents and her teachers. We have made comments at a later date reflecting back on the impact of these events. Kats School Notes Index

 

Date

Notes

Comments

1994-04-05

 

4/5 Kat did not have chicken pox when Bridget had them , I have my fingers crossed. K. I thought we would wait until St. gives us new drills , he is supposed to come April 25th , then we can go over the drills which should take us 2 hrs . When do you want to meet about the conference? I could come over to school (right after school) next week Tuesday , or Wednesday . Is that too late . If it is I would have to do it during the school day or late evening .

I'd also like to stop in to meet the new assistants. Can you call me Wed to arrange or let me know what's a good time to call you

Danuta

PS Yesterday Kat did something neet during the "When " drill . When I asked her when do you drink I could hear her whisper in self talk she said Why do you drink Because I am thirsty , and then out loud said " When I am thirsty " It was neet , P.W. is my witness .

 

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1994-04-06

 

4/6 That is new & neat ! ! Nice to have "witness", but not necessary ! Got through more drills today w/ training - had Kat & G. do some drills together (prepositions). They liked that !

K.

 

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1994-04-07

 

4/7 Danuta -

Got about 1 / 2 of drills complete today - training new staff takes extra time ,plus we had a child get sick in class and much time was spent w/ clean - up ( janitor w/ various items - it took quite awhile . ) New staff is great - but still learning . . .

C.

 

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1994-04-08

 

4/8 Danuta

Does Tues Lunch sound OK to meet about presentation ( 11:15-12:15) Sunday can meet even after that ( 'till about 12:45 ) so you can coordinate . If you come in before you can meet the new interns ( 10 am ? ) D. was absent today &we had no sub!

K.

 

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1994-04-09

 

4/9 Tuesday sounds great

 

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1994-04-11

 

4/11 Exciting - I was doing first/last drill needed object . held up curler asked what is it ? to ok for use and she said " I don't know " ! I was thrilled - told everybody

Danuta - please send in a pencil guppier - I can't find one at school and it helps w. drawing

*We have found one

C.

4/11 Danuta -

Great drill day ! Mastering of Prep . Receptive outside.

Kat did not show any signs of flu or upset stomach today - ate lunch normally .

C.

 

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1994-04-12

 

4/12 Thanks for your input! ! we really appreciate all your help ! Kat is really working nicely w/ new staff & F.L. told me she does want to work at home w/ Kat .

K.

4/12 During the Reciprocal conversation drill (12) Kat looked a little spary so I said instead of saying "My name is Danuta " ,I said " My name is Rumpelstiltskin " Kat responded "my name is Cinderella"

 

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1994-04-13

 

4/13 Danuta,

That's so neat about the joining table conversation ! Kat did drill w/ Chr. today (Categories Exp.) she set up the chairs and chose the first category ( animals) to begin with!

C.

* St. tomorrow at 10 !

P . S . Interns worked almost independently & went well, but slowly ,so not all drills got done .

 

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1994-04-15

 

4/15 Danuta,

I substituted for K. because of COSAC . D.F. was able to get all of her drills completed. We put her in a short sleeve shirt because it so hot . Please sent it back

Ka.

 

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1994-04-18

 

4/18 Danuta -

I received a call today from J.R. re: 10 / hrs. that Voorhees is paying & total drill time we're doing here at school . D. is here for 10 / hrs. ( 9-2) but 4 hrs./day are spent on drills since Kat has the lunch / recess hour off . We do try to complete drills, as you know here , but can't always do it , due to various circumstances . According to your presentation at COSAC, we're doing 15 hrs. / wk and J. is most concerned about this . We will address this ASAP.

C.

4/18 C. , Per schedule that we received at IEP meeting and the IEP itself Kat is supposed to get 15 hrs per week . We're confused about your concern ?

Danuta &Tom

 

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1994-04-19

 

4/19 We received a call from J.R. yesterday. He was upset that we were not doing 20 hrs of drills as per your letter sent to district (this is what he said) . We told him 15 hrs of Drills was what was agreed at meeting . You say you agree w/ 15 hrs . We are confused,too. I called him today but he was not in at the time . We'd like to meet w/ you & Tom to discuss programming issues (instead of Fri H.V. - say if you can meet either , Fri AM or some other time soon ) . We'd like to clarify goals, etc. Also - we were down 1 assistant today

Thanks,

K.

PS Let us know when St. suggests Procedure . We can take baseline here .

 

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1994-04-20

 

4/20 Can we meet about goals after St. comes in on Monday ? YES ! [Tues . or Weds .] For the two go went drills is it possible for you to try library, lunchroom , gym , bathroom? (Try closer locations first.) We added w/ the bathroom today (S.D. : " go to the bathroom door " since " go to the bathroom " involves using ! ) but I feel she needs to master " office " before we add another out - of class location .

Also we couldn't find photos for new SD's in VERBS PAST TENSE ( except "looking ") but will do so ASAP. If you have extras could you send them in ?

Is Kat going on the camping trip next week ? If so we need form returned for permission & medical ,plus $10.00 fee . What about the Storybook Land trip ? Let me know -

C.

K. and C. ,

Kat is not going to be able to make it on the trips. We have a dentist appointment on 28th and we are going to Disney World from May 21st to May 31st. she will miss a lot of learning time then so we will have to try and focus on drills beforehand .

PS I meant to thank you both and S. for including me in the workshop. I had number of parents approach me afterwards who said that " finally " realized how much effort is necessary. Would you have a videotape Tom could see of the workshop ? Thanks a bunch

Danuta

PS We only have 1 set of verbs

 

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1994-04-21

 

4/21Danuta -

Kat is not attending any trips? Will she be staying home on those 4 days ?

Kat played a music game w/ Chr. & assistants today - she saw him practicing & we asked her if she wanted to do it & she jumped right in . He was using rhythm sticks .

We are in process of getting tape copied to VHS form .

Is Wed a time we can meet ?

K.

PS I notice K. is getting matery in drill items w / 1 person only . We use 2 people as mastery . We were down 1 staff person today .

Apr. K. &C., Can you pass this on : "In getting Information drill can we try to use questions that are different from the ones in ' conversation drill ", Question discrimination & pronouns will be in future drills. The skill we are working on in Kat saying " I don't know ? "

PS What time Wednesday ?

PS2 Kat pulled a lot of hair on top . I used gel to help shile it together I hope it helps somewhat . Let me know if it make any difference at school

 

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1994-04-22

 

4/22 Home visit today - all drills were completed

K.G.

 

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1994-04-26

 

4/26 I am still working on some of the drills that St. gave me yesterday . Can I stop by tomorrow to demonstrate someof them ?

PS . Big Birds book has to go back & forth unless you have another one ?

 

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1994-04-27

 

4/27 I'll stop by around 9:30 .

Danuta

4/27 Danuta -

Thanks for your informative visit ! We ( F. , K , & I) worked through the new formats . The 1st & last drill we broke down to just working on the actions ( esp . clap, wave , and dance) since Kat was very frustrated when F. gave the SD and then said " no " because she was doing the actions too quickly ( lots of screaming & kicking) . Kat seemed to understand once we worked on just the actions ,then went back to drill SD and she did much better ! We used the what spoon for Describing Topics and she needed no prompts for color .

We'll miss Kat at camp !

C.

 

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